Wrenched from the stem,
the recovered hull section
probablyfit near the
captain'swalk, as shown in
this diagram (left). Heavy
cannon, breakingfree on
the gun deck just forward,
may have hastened breakup
of the ship as it rocked
against the shoal.
A mosaic (right) of 54
photographsof the section
- eyed by Mel Fisher, left,
diver-photographerPat
Clyne, center, and
archaeologistR. Duncan
Mathewson-will guide
reassembly of the raised
timbers.A grandermosaic
continues to emerge as
discovery and research
resurrecta portraitof
colonial Spain from
Margarita'sgrave.
an ivory box lid, decorated with delicate, in
cised figures of mythical animals. Research
later disclosed similar designs on an ivory
gift box from Portuguese Ceylon. Thus far
did the network of Spanish imperial trade
extend.
Two days later Virgalona docked in Key
West with her cockpit lined with barrel
hoops and swords. There was a harquebus,
a memento of Bernardino de Lugo's com
pany of soldiers; a 50-pound clump of silver
coins; and an ingot of silver. With a wide
grin, skipper Mo Molinar poured from a
sack a stream of 25 two-escudo gold coins
into the cupped hands of Dolores Fisher.
Ghost Galleon a Golden Reality
By the late fall of 1981 it was evident that
the Santa Margarita had yielded a very
great treasure. It had been recovered along a
scattered path more than 4,000 feet long.
The gold bullion alone-in 56 bars, disks,
and bits-weighed more than 118 pounds.
Mel Fisher and his crew had also found 180
feet of gold chains and 56 gold coins. It was
the largest amount of gold salvaged from a
Spanish galleon in modern times. The divers
had recovered perhaps 15,000 silver coins
and 18 silver ingots, with many other valu
able artifacts.
A diver from Treasure Salvors' newest
craft, the Dauntless, had found one of the
most enthralling of them all-an elegant,
well-preserved brass pocket sundial. It must
be much like that used on the wreck site by
Melian's salvors in 1627.
In artifact value, the treasure is worth
perhaps 20 million dollars when legal obsta
cles to its distribution or sale are overcome.
But the knowledge that will be gained from
the shipwreck-in ceramic dating, ship con
struction, and Hispanic culture generally
may well prove to be of more enduring value
than the bullion.
Mel Fisher's greatest ambition, like that
of Francisco Nufiez Melian, thus far re
mains unrealized: the finding of Atocha's
mother lode, more than a thousand bars of
silver still somewhere on the bottom. His
search for it will go on. But, in strange coin
cidence, Fisher's greatest gain, like Melian's,
has come from that tragic ship Santa Mar
garita: a golden argosy uncovered, and a
ghost galleon no more.
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Treasure From the Ghost Galleon
243